


checking you out

by s-sokka (poesidone)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, I do not know how to tag, M/M, Meet-Cute, Pre-Relationship, campus library au, i'm new here sorry, uhhh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:46:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25466467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poesidone/pseuds/s-sokka
Summary: Zuko was tired, walking across campus. No, not tired, he was exhausted. Specificity of language was crucial. Yeah, Zuko was exhausted, and the worst part was that he had nobody to blame for it but himself. Well, he could blame Mai a little bit. He had had a full day of classes after staying up most of the night binging a show that he didn’t even like that much, he could barely even remember the name of it. Mai had recommended it to him for whatever reason and he wanted to watch it so that they could talk about it together, but he was starting to think that it was not worth the trouble it had caused.orCampus Library AU
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 51
Kudos: 334





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hey, folks! This is not only my first fic for this ship or fandom, it is my first fic ever! I have never written fanfic before, but my sweet friends encouraged me to do so!
> 
> This is based off of an AU i posted on tumblr, idk how to insert links so here it is https://s-sokka.tumblr.com/post/624407453682024448
> 
> beta read by the amazing Cal (@firelord-zuzu-the-jerkbender)

Zuko was tired, walking across campus. No, not tired, he was exhausted. Specificity of language was crucial. Yeah, Zuko was exhausted, and the worst part was that he had nobody to blame for it but himself. Well, he could blame Mai a little bit. He had had a full day of classes after staying up most of the night binging a show that he didn’t even like that much, he could barely even remember the name of it. Mai had recommended it to him for whatever reason and he wanted to watch it so that they could talk about it together, but he was starting to think that it was not worth the trouble it had caused.

Zuko sighed as he reached his destination and pushed open the double doors at the entrance of the campus library. He was greeted immediately by the heat of the building, a sharp and sudden contrast to the biting cold of the blizzard raging outside and the scent of the first floor Starbucks. He paused by the circulation desk as he considered his options. It was after 6 pm, so if he got coffee now he might be up all night yet again, but if he didn’t get any, he might end up falling asleep in his seat on the seventh floor.

Some restless part of him calmed when he thought of his spot behind the shelves of kids’ books on the seventh floor, it was a hidden gem that he had discovered last year as a sophomore. It was the perfect spot to study and get some writing done, right next to a window that overlooked the quad and the student center. In the spring when the sun was shining more often than not, Zuko loved the way the rays of light hit the papers he had unintentionally scattered across the table. Around the table were three large armchairs, they were unusually comfy and there was nothing Zuko loved more than sinking into one and letting go of the day’s stresses. It was secluded, quiet, and perfect.

A loud clearing of a throat from his left jolted him out of his thoughts.

“Are you planning on returning materials or asking a question?” A frustrated student employee asked from behind the circulation desk. Zuko startled and looked to his other side to see that a line of a couple people had formed and were looking as annoyed as the student employee had sounded.

“Sorry,” Zuko muttered as he shifted quickly out of the way, he could feel his face heating up in embarrassment. His feet decided to take him towards the counter of the Starbucks that was situated behind the escalator that led up to the second floor math tutoring area. Zuko shuddered as he recalled spending many hours on that floor his freshman year, as he had taken his one required math class. As a creative writing major, math wasn’t really a skill he needed or wanted, but it was a graduation requirement so he ended up taking it anyway.

Zuko pulled out his phone as he waited in line to order. He tapped the screen and saw time shine back at him, 6:32. He sighed to himself-- he hated that he had signed up for an evening class, it threw off the flow of his day and made him cranky. Especially since he didn’t even like the stupid class anyway. It was an elective that he needed to take for upper division credit hours. Or something like that, anyway, he hadn’t really been listening when his advisor had been explaining it to him.

Zuko slipped his phone back into his pocket as he reached the front of the line and placed his order. After paying for his drink using his campus meal plan, he went to wait near the bench on the edge of the cafe.

“For Sokka?” a bored-sounding barista called out, placing a very large, very sugary drink on the counter. Zuko stared at it, wondering if anyone could really drink something that brightly colored without dying. He watched as a tall boy with an undercut and short ponytail walked up to retrieve the monstrosity of a drink. Except, no, he didn’t walk, he sashayed. Zuko wasn’t sure he had ever seen a man sashay with such confidence before. It was unfairly attractive. And annoying.

Zuko tried not to stare as the guy, Sokka, his mind supplied helpfully, grabbed a straw and took off in the direction of the elevators. Key word being tried. Zuko watched as Sokka took a sip of his drink (why was it pink? That just didn’t seem right to him) and hit the elevator button.

He was almost grateful when he heard his name called and rushed over to grab his drink to stop himself from ogling this poor stranger even further.

As he walked towards the elevator with his comfortingly warm drink in hand, he thought happily once again about his comfy chair on the seventh floor. It had been a long day and he was so ready to just sink into his seat and let out the breath he felt like he had been holding all day.

Stepping into the creaky, old elevator with two other students, he prepared himself for the harrowing experience that was a trip in the campus library elevators. Zuko was pretty sure they were the first built back when the university was established, because they were truly ancient. Every time he got in one of them he had to brace himself for the shaking and rattling and the unsettling whirring sounds that the elevator made. Zuko was pretty sure he would die in one of these things before he even got to graduate.

He let out an audible sigh of relief as the elevator stuttered to a halt on the seventh floor. He quickly exited the death machine and made his way to the far right side of the level. He relished in the quiet that pervaded over the area, there was nothing more peaceful and calming to him than the quiet of a library.

As he walked through the kids sections he wondered, not for the first time, why the university even had a kids section. He tried to imagine what kind of college student would be reading _The Very Hungry Caterpillar_ in their free time.

He rounded the final corner to get to his spot and stopped dead in his tracks. No, it couldn’t be, that was impossible. He felt his jaw drop.

Someone had taken his spot. His special spot that was just for him and no one else. Someone who didn’t even respect the sacredness of the seat enough to not put his feet up on the table.

After getting over the initial shock of seeing another person settled in at his table his mind finally recognized the intruding and oblivious figure.

The hot guy with the absurd Starbucks order. Sokka.

Of course.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok!! We're back! I thought it was gonna take me way longer to finish writing this chapter, but it really didn't, even thought it's 2x longer than the first one. Sokka was really fun to write! I'm excited to explore his perspective more in future chapters!
> 
> Also, I'm sorry that the title is such a bad pun, it was all I could come up with yesterday.
> 
> This chapter was beta read by Cal (@firelord-zuzu-the-jerkbender on tumblr) and Kat (@firenationtwink on tumblr) and I love both of them very very much.

Sokka was not feeling great. For one thing, he was tired, he had gone to the rec center earlier to get a work out in and while he was there had remembered that he had a paper due tomorrow for his college writing elective. 

Great. Just what Sokka loved most. Writing.

Sokka knew that he wouldn’t be able to focus in his dorm room, he loved his roommate, a loud and energetic freshman named Aang, but he knew that he would get pulled into a conversation the second he sat down to start working. He and Aang had been randomly assigned as roommates this year, and they got along probably a little too well. The two of them may or may not have gotten themselves banned from the cafe above the student center. Sokka smiled to himself, it was a fond memory to him, even if Katara had yelled at them for 20 minutes straight. Totally worth it. 

That wasn’t to say that he was a bad student! No, Sokka was a good student, a  _ very _ good student. Even if he didn’t care much for the subject, he cared about his GPA because he needed to keep his financial aid. College was expensive, dammit! If the school was willing to pay part of his tuition for him then he was gonna do everything in his power to not mess that up.

Normally, finding a quiet place to study wasn’t an issue for Sokka, he kept a really detailed schedule of all of his classes and assignments and reserved an individual study room on the sixth floor of the campus library when he knew he had something big to work on. Something big like this paper. It’s just that he had fallen behind a bit with his schedule recently. Look, it had been a long week, ok? Sokka couldn’t be expected to stay focused on school 24/7, he may be a good student, but he wasn’t a robot!

Yeah, so, the point was, Sokka didn’t know where to go to finish this paper. He sighed. This was why he kept such a detailed schedule, so he wouldn’t get stuck in a situation like this the night before an assignment was due. He only had one more page to finish writing; it wasn’t as though he had left the entire thing to do the night before it was due, so he could probably find some quiet spot somewhere in the library to sit down for an hour at most and bang out the rest of his paper.

He shouldered his way through the entrance of the library--he would have used his hands, but when he had been in his room showering off after his workout he had spotted the stack of books on his desk that he had been putting off returning because he hadn’t wanted to carry them across campus. His eyes adjusted quickly to the shift in the lighting, outside was grey and overcast, snow blowing through the air, but inside the lights were warm and welcoming. He made his way over to the far end of the circulation desk where the book return drop-off was located and carefully placed each book in, one at a time. Books were something to be treasured, in Sokka’s opinion, not to just be thrown around.

Sokka may have hated writing, but boy did he love to read! He was always looking for new subjects and genres to dig into, he had learned a lot of information that most people would consider useless by simply reading through his high school’s entire collection of books. He didn’t miss much about high school, but he did miss the library and the librarians who ran it.

After returning his books, he smiled at the tired looking girl behind the desk, who smiled back and gave him a little wave before he continued on his way toward the Starbucks at the back of the room. He startled as he noticed Suki behind the counter, he had forgotten she was working today. 

Luckily, there was no line and he made his way up to the register quickly.

“Suki!” He greeted loudly, turning several heads in the small area.

Suki gave him a bright smile, “I wasn’t expecting to see you here today! Do you want your usual?”

“You know me so well!” He gave her his cheesiest grin and she rolled his eyes at him fondly as she wrote his name on the clear venti cup. 

“Ok, you big dork, what else do you want?”

“I’m absolutely crushed that you don’t have my entire order memorized verbatim! You wound me!” Sokka pretended to faint in distress, much to the dismay of the poor student stuck standing behind him who almost got crushed by his oversized Swiss Army backpack.

“Sokka, you’re being a hazard and holding up the line, just tell me what else you want.”

“...Just give me a cakepop.” he sighed as he handed Suki his card to pay for his order. She smirked as she ran it through the register.

“That’ll be out shortly, have a nice evening.” She said in the fakest customer service voice Sokka had ever heard.

He snorted and started towards the counter to wait for his name to be called. 

“Thanks, Suki. Hey,” he paused, “shoot me a text when you get the chance and we can make plans to hang out sometime soon!”

“Yeah, that would be great! Have a good study session!” she replied before turning to the next customer to take their order.

Sokka strolled over to the order pickup area to wait for his order to be ready. He was feeling a lot better now after seeing Suki, it felt like it had been weeks since he had last seen her. Sokka was glad that they had been able to stay such good friends after their breakup last year. Suki was one of his best friends and he didn’t know if he could handle college without her by his side, whether that be as a friend or something else.

He set his backpack down beside him, he never could figure out what it was that always made it so heavy, but it was like carrying a bag full of bricks on his back. He unzipped his thick winter coat, it was his most comfortable piece of clothing. He had gotten it specifically for going on ice fishing trips up north with his father, but it worked just as well for weathering the icy temperatures of a Midwestern January evening. He stuffed his coat under his arm and glanced over to the register where Suki was working and his eyes caught on the guy she was helping. 

_ Oh. _

Times like this reminded Sokka of just how bi he was, because this guy was  _ hot _ . Sokka knew he was staring, but he didn’t care, it wasn’t like the guy was looking at him anyway. He had black hair, it was shaggy, but in a cute way. He was wearing a dark red hoodie--which Sokka thought looked incredibly comfy--and dark jeans. When he turned towards Sokka and went to stand on the other side of the waiting area, Sokka could see that he had a large scar over the left side of his face. Sokka felt bad for wondering what had caused it, he knew that was rude, but he couldn’t help it, the guy was fascinating. And so nice to look at!

He was startled out of his observations by his name being called. He went forward to claim his drink (and his cakepop), intentionally putting a little extra swing in his step, he knew he would probably never see the hot guy again, but that didn’t stop him from showing off.

He left the Starbucks and made his way toward the elevators. He knew that the elevators were probably pretty dangerous, given that they were total relics, but he found them charming in a way. Thinking about how old they were meant thinking about all the other people who had used these elevators before, how many people had taken trips in them before they started making their admittedly jarring squealing noises? It was something Sokka liked to consider every time he stepped in one.

He hit the button for the 6th floor; the light that was meant to indicate his selection did not go on, he knew from hitting it many times before that it had burned out many years ago. He stood alone quietly as it rose and rattled to his floor. Getting out, he surveyed the area.

Shit. There were no rooms open. He really should have been more on top of this, this wouldn’t have happened if he had just paid more attention to his schedule.

Well, maybe it was time to explore the seventh floor and see what it had to offer.

He turned to step back into the elevator before changing his mind and heading for the two large metal doors that lead to the stairwell. As a freshman, he had tried to take the stairs as often as possible, but he very quickly learned that while going up six floors may sound doable, it was not. But he was only going up one flight now, so he wasn’t feeling too concerned about it.

Pushing open the doors, he noticed that they were a lot heavier than he remembered them being last year. Maybe it was time to look at some new arm workouts. Well, he could think about that later. He quickly climbed the steps to the next floor up, he had never been on this level before. He read the sign above the entrance that labelled this as a quiet study floor as he pushed the doors open. He closed them behind him as quietly as he could and stepped into the room.

It was very unlike the sixth floor, but not unusual looking for a library, the lights up on this floor were not as warm as the ones on the first floor, but were still equally as calming. To his left was a large area filled with desks and group study tables, a couple of which were being occupied by other students, and many rows of shelves of old looking books extending to the far side of the room. Sokka glanced at one of the titles as he entered further into the space,  _ The Etymology of Flowers in Western Civilization _ . Huh, he’d have to come back and check that one out at some point, it sounded kinda interesting.

He walked towards the right side of the room and saw two giant shelves decorated with brightly colored spines. He glanced up at the sign announcing this the “Juvenile Books” section. He walked towards it, looking to see what sort of juvenile books they had to offer. One book caught his eye immediately,  _ The Very Hungry Caterpillar _ . Seeing it made Sokka’s heart ache just a little, he thought of his mom and how she used to call him her little caterpillar, because it had always been his favorite book to read as a bedtime story. She had also called him that because he loved to eat so much, but the first reason was cuter so that was the one he tended to go with.

There were two copies of the book and he pulled one of them off the shelf. He had a little bit of time probably, it wouldn’t hurt to take a moment to revisit an old favorite from his childhood. He tucked it under his arm as he continued past the shelves. Behind the shelf that had held  _ The Very Hungry Caterpillar _ , he found what appeared to be the perfect studying spot, maybe even better than his study rooms on the floor below. He took in the small table next to the window that was surrounded by three very comfortable looking armchairs. Sokka physically perked up at the sight and he walked over to drop his backpack on the floor and take a seat in the nearest chair, sinking into it with a deep sigh. Yeah, this was definitely better than his spot on the sixth floor, the study room chairs were nowhere near this comfortable. He set his drink on the table, propped his feet up, and took a bite out of his cakepop. Man, did he love Starbucks cakepops.

He pulled the book into his lap and flipped it open, just looking at the art on the first page made him smile.

He had made it halfway through the book when he heard someone clear their throat. He looked up and was surprised to see the hot guy from Starbucks standing awkwardly at the edge of the bookshelf. He looked very uncomfortable. Sokka felt kind of guilty even though he hadn’t done anything to make the guy look so uneasy. Well, not yet anyway, there was still time, though.

The guy seemed to be considering something very seriously as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Sokka felt strange just watching him stand there and he felt like he should say something, but just as he opened his mouth to greet him, the guy stepped towards the table, walking to the side opposite where Sokka was sitting. He dropped his bag next to the seat--from the sound it made hitting the floor, Sokka could tell that it was probably just as heavy as his own--and stiffly sat down.

Sokka offered the guy a small smile, something about him reminded him of a baby animal, like he would get spooked and run away if Sokka was too loud or made any sudden movements, he was certainly as cute as one. But the guy very quickly dashed this line of thought by glaring at Sokka with unbridled resentment clear in his eyes. Sokka noticed as his eyes flicked down to the book in his hands and widened slightly in surprise before returning to his irritated expression.

Huh, well, that was odd, but it wasn’t anything that Sokka couldn’t handle. He watched as the guy unzipped his bag and pulled out three different notebooks, along with a laptop. Sokka noticed that the notebooks all looked thoroughly worn and used, but the laptop looked brand new, it didn’t even have any stickers on it. The guy opened his computer and it seemed like he was pointedly ignoring Sokka as he started in on his work.

  
Sokka shrugged to himself and turned back to his book, he had more important things to think about than hot guys who seemed to hate him for no apparent reason, namely  _ The Very Hungry Caterpillar. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this one! I have no idea when the next one will be up! But I'm thinking it will likely be very soon, probably tomorrow if I'm being honest. I haven't started writing it yet, but I have the day off for the next two days so lots of free time!! 
> 
> Feel free to let me know what you thought of this chapter here or on tumblr @s-sokka!! Thanks for reading :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took a couple days! I didn't want to write and then when i did want to write i was too busy! But here it is! Hope you enjoy!!
> 
> Beta read by the incredible Cal (@firelord-zuzu-the-jerkbender) ily Cal!!
> 
> (Zuko's perspective btw)

Zuko had never been described as a patient person, which he thought was fair. Because it was true, he wasn’t patient, and he was quickly getting sick of this guy refusing to take the hint and leave. Because, while he was nice to look at, the guy was reading a kids book and still hadn’t taken his feet off of the table.

Well, he wasn’t reading a kids book anymore, but he had been. And that--plus putting his feet on the table (seriously, where were you raised?!)--was enough to make Zuko dislike him on principle.

That and the fact that the guy had taken his spot. Zuko had always thought of it as being his spot and it didn’t feel right to him to sit on the other side of the table looking at someone else sitting in his chair.

He tried his best to settle into his current seat, and ignore the guy sitting across from him. It seemed as though he had moved on from The Very Hungry Caterpillar at this point and was now typing slowly on his laptop. His computer was covered in all kinds of weird stickers that had jokes that Zuko didn’t understand. Sokka, he remembered the guy’s name, was typing slowly seemingly not because he was a slow typer, but it looked like he was in pain working on whatever was on his screen. Zuko could understand that feeling as he worked on his own less than ideal assignment.

He was taking a class about European literature from the 1800’s, which basically meant he was studying a bunch of dead white guys. He was at the library to start writing his research paper about his assigned author; he had the research part of it done and now he just needed to piece it all together into one coherent essay.

Zuko heard a loud thud and looked up to see the guy--Sokka, the seat thief--had laid his head down on the table quite loudly. Zuko hated the fact that he related to that action. He felt like he should say something and check to see if he was okay, but then he remembered that he was mad at this guy.

Sokka lifted his head and looked directly at Zuko, who, having been caught staring, flushed and looked away quickly. In his periphery, though, he could see a smile forming on the guy’s face.

“Hey, I’m going to the vending machine on the sixth floor to grab a Reese’s, do you want anything?” Sokka asked.

Zuko was shocked to hear him speak, and he was also upset because how dare this guy be hot and have a pleasant voice? Totally unfair! Zuko was starting to think the universe had it out for him today.

“No.” Zuko said, shortly, then felt bad and added, “but thank you for offering.”

“Are you sure, dude? You really look like you could use a snack.” He pushed.

Zuko glared, he was sure he didn’t look like he needed anything, except maybe his seat back.

Sokka quickly fixed his mistake, stumbling on his words, “I didn’t mean that you look bad or like malnourished or anything! Sorry, that came out wrong! I just meant that you look stressed and kinda upset? And I thought maybe a snack might help you feel better?” He rubbed the back of his head, looking adorably uncertain. Zuko cursed himself for the thought.

“No, I’m certain that I don’t want anything. Thanks.” Zuko fixed his gaze resolutely on his basically empty word doc. He wasn’t getting much done, clearly.

“Ok, bro, whatever you say.” Sokka said, casually, almost like he hadn’t just been stumbling over his words.

Zuko frowned even harder, “Don’t call me that. I’m not your bro, I don’t even know you.”

Sokka grinned widely, “What should I call you then?”

Zuko hesitated, did he want this guy to know his name? Would he mistake it as a show of friendliness?

“Zuko.” he said. Strangely, he didn’t regret it immediately like he had expected to.

Sokka’s smile softened from the shit-eating grin it had been to something kinder. 

“Zuko,” he rolled the name over his tongue, almost like he was savoring it. Zuko suppressed a shudder; it should not affect him like that just hearing a virtual stranger say his name.

“Sokka,” Sokka said, shaking Zuko out of his thoughts.

“I know.” Zuko said before even thinking about it. 

Sokka looked puzzled, “How did you know? I feel like i definitely would have remembered meeting you before, you seem pretty hard to forget.”

Zuko hunched on himself and let his hair fall into his eyes to mask his scar. He knew it was ugly, he knew people stared at him for it. 

Sokka must have realized what Zuko was thinking because he quickly jumped in to fix his misstep, for the second time in their brief exchange. 

“No! I wasn’t talking about your scar! I mean, yeah, it’s memorable, but not in a bad way! I think it’s really cool, it makes you look super hot! I mean, badass!” He rambled, Zuko noticed as his tan skin started flushing in embarrassment. That should not be so cute.

“Hot?” he let himself smirk just a little as he watched Sokka fidget with the hem of his oversized blue hoodie.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I didn’t say you were hot. Nope. Definitely not. Besides, we’re getting away from the point here, how did you already know my name?”

“Oh, I heard the barista call it at Starbucks earlier when I was waiting for my drink.”

“And you remembered it?” Sokka’s grin was shit-eating again.

“It’s an uncommon name.” Zuko said, getting defensive. This whole conversation was a disaster.

“Listen,” He started, “I appreciate the offer, but I don’t want a snack and I really need to get back to work so if you could just let me focus I would really appreciate it.” He didn’t quite mean to snap, and the look on Sokka’s face made him feel bad, but he fixed his gaze on his screen and tried to focus on his work.

“Oh, uh, sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you, Zuko.” Sokka said his name like it was something important, Zuko wasn’t used to that. He didn’t know how to feel about it, so he just continued to ignore it.

He listened as Sokka’s steps grew fainter as he walked toward the stairwell. When he heard the doors close he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding and dropped his head onto the table.

Shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhhhh yeah! feel free to let me know what you think of it! Thanks for reading :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it, folks!! Thanks for sticking with me!! I had a lot of fun writing this and I learned a lot about how I want to write future projects!!
> 
> I had like four beta readers for this update, Cal (of course!!), Kat, Meg, and Mace!! Thank you all for reading this through, y'all are the best!!
> 
> Enjoy!!

Sokka was an adult. He was. Not that you could tell from the way he was acting around this cute boy. 

_ Zuko, Zuko, Zuko, _ the name was on loop in Sokka’s mind. It was a good name, it fit him.

Sokka stared at the options before him, trying to focus his eyes and his mind on the snacks. 

_ Speaking of snacks, _ his thoughts drifted back to Zuko. He didn’t really seem to like Sokka at all, he had completely rejected his peace offering of food. Who rejects food?! Someone who doesn’t like the person offering it, apparently.

Sokka attempted, once again, to focus on the task at hand. He was starting to think he hadn’t taken his afternoon meds, he couldn’t remember if he had or not and at this point it was probably too late to take them anyway.

He startled when he heard someone clear their throat loudly from behind him. He turned around to see an impatient and exhausted student looking like they were about to pass out, they were so tired. Geez, Sokka seemed to be great at pissing people off today.

“Sorry, man, I’ll be outta your way in just a sec.” He turned around to face the vending machine again after giving the guy an apologetic grimace. Forcing himself to make a choice, he hit the button for a Reese’s and moved out of the zombie-student's way to walk to the stairwell and push open the doors. He thought about his assignment: he was supposed to write a five-page research paper about any topic of his choosing. The writing part was easy, the deciding on a topic part was what had stumped him the most. It was just that Sokka was interested in so many things! It had felt impossible to pick just one to write about. Luckily for him, this was only one of many research papers he was assigned to write for this class, so he would get the chance to explore many topics throughout the semester.   
  


He reached the top of the stairs leading to the seventh floor, and paused to consider what might be on the floors above it. He remembered that students were not above the ninth floor and wondered what it was on levels 10-12 that was so forbidden from students.

He shouldered the doors open as he pondered the possibilities; maybe there were dragons up there. Probably not, but Sokka thought it would be cool.

As he rounded the corner to the table, Sokka saw Zuko had his head down on the table and was either asleep or having a breakdown, both of which were probably less than ideal if he was trying to get some work done.

Sokka softly stepped over to Zuko and gently tapped his shoulder, doing his best not to scare him.

“Hey, Zuko, are you okay?” He said quietly, immediately feeling bad for bothering him.

Zuko’s head shot up--he looked alarmed and frantic until his eyes focused on Sokka and he immediately tensed.

“I’m super sorry, I probably shouldn’t have woken you up, but I just thought that since you’re here at the library that you probably wanted to get some work done and it didn’t seem like you were going to be able to do that if you were asleep. Uh, so, yeah. I’m sorry.” What was it about this guy that made Sokka incapable of proper speech?

Zuko’s shoulders dropped so heavily it would have been comical if it wasn’t so sad to Sokka that he had been so tense to begin with.

“Oh,” Zuko muttered, “Thanks, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” He rubbed his eyes slowly and stretched his arms high above his head.

It took everything in Sokka not to glance at the little sliver of stomach that showed from under his deep red crewneck.

Sokka sat back down in his chair and set his candy on the table, opening his computer back up to get back to working on his essay and noticed from his periphery that Zuko was looking in his direction. Shifting his gaze up slightly, Sokka realized that Zuko was looking longingly not at Sokka, but at his Reese’s.

He felt himself start to smile, “Hey, I know you said that you didn’t want anything from the vending machine, but would you like one?”

“There’s only two in a pack, I’d be eating half of your snack.”

“That’s true, but I wouldn’t have made an offer if I didn’t mean it.”

Zuko visibly hesitated, seeming to weigh the offer in his head before nodding and saying a quiet “Thank you.”

Sokka let himself grin fully as he opened the pack and slid one over to Zuko across the table. Zuko barely managed to catch it before it slid all the way off the table and onto the floor.

He blushed and rolled his eyes as he recovered from the near loss.

“Thanks,” he mumbled again.

“Dude, it’s not a big deal.” He thought for a moment before speaking again, “Consider it a peace offering.”

Zuko’s brow wrinkled as he stuffed the chocolate into his mouth, “Peace offering?”

“Yeah, I don’t know what I did, but you’ve been glaring at me since you got here. So, this is me saying sorry. For whatever it is I did.” He unpeeled his own cup and bit into it, studiously avoiding Zuko’s eyes.

“I--” Zuko started and stopped quickly, “I’m the one who should be saying sorry, you didn’t do anything wrong. Well, you didn’t mean to, anyway.”

Sokka frowned; “So, I did do something, then?”

“No! Well, yes, but it’s not like you did it to be mean, there’s no way you could have known, anyway! I know I’m just being over dramatic and--”

“Zuko,” Sokka interrupted gently, “Can you tell me what I did? Please?”

Zuko swallowed heavily, “I, uh, that’s… you’re sitting in my spot.”

Huh. Okay, Sokka could work with that.

“Okay, I can work with that. Would you like me to leave? No hard feelings if you say yes.”

“No!” Zuko said loudly, seeming to surprise himself and Sokka both. “I mean, you can stay, you got here first.”

“Dude, if this is your spot I don’t want to invade. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable, I can leave.” He closed his laptop and stood up, starting to pack his belongings back into his bag.

Zuko’s hand shot out and wrapped itself around Sokka’s wrist. Sokka’s eyes shot up and met Zuko’s, who let go of his wrist like it had burned him.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have just grabbed you like that. I can understand if you’d rather leave, I haven’t been welcoming to you at all, but… I would like it if you stayed.” He trailed off at the end, almost too quiet to hear.

Sokka softened, “I’d like that too.” He started to set his bag back down.

“Uh,” Zuko started, sounding unsure of himself again, “But could we maybe switch seats? I really like to sit by the window.”

Sokka felt a smile grow on his face as he watched Zuko’s cheeks heat up. 

“Yeah, I can do that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick but enthusiastic thank you to the zukka nation discord fam for being the best most encouraging and supportive friends ever!! I would not have even considered writing this if it wasn't for you guys being so nice to me :')
> 
> ok, i'm done being emotional!! i might be convinced someday to write a part two if anyone actually wants that. We shall see.
> 
> come talk to me on tumblr if you want!! I'm @s-sokka!! thanks for reading!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Ok! That's it for now! I'm working on the rest right now and hope to update this soon, but I'm obviously brand new at this so I'm still not entirely sure what I'm doing! I really hope you enjoyed it!!
> 
> you can come talk to me on tumblr too @s-sokka


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